I"m writing on this hard subject out of personal experience. My husband and I were so excited to adopt a rescue when we finally had a home. I had adopted a rescue in high school, that my parents ended up caring for until he passed away. I loved Moses so much. I actually found him right by a swift river where someone had dropped him and his sister at a campground. I had no doubt that it was the right thing to do again. However, we had two small children at the time. I adopted a male, intact boxer from a local shelter (I have no idea why they didn't neuter him), but I also completely discounted that he had been running "at large" or wild for months prior, hunting for his food. He was strong and beautiful. I surprised my husband with him. He loved him instantly. However, after only a day or two, he tried to bite my daughter in her high chair more than once, and began growling at me too. I was shocked, and felt extremely guilty that it was happening. My husband would come home, and he would listen to him. But as soon as he left, he started to growl and me and the kids, and snip at the kids. I knew he was such a powerful dog, that he could really hurt them if he wanted to. We had to carefully rehome him with an older gentleman. I was devastated after that and we didn't have any dogs for a while. Then, my relatives adopted a pit mix, you'll see the story on my homepage about that. The answer is: I have heard so many stories like my own. In our many seasons of life, there are wonderful seasons to adopt rescues. There is however, a season when it is best to buy a well-socialized, well-bred puppy. It is ok to have peace of mind that what you have is assured to have a wonderful, gentle temperament without previous trauma. Dogs that have experienced trauma often never recover from it. Dogs do not forget things. They have very good memories, built in for survivial. They cannot forget things that have happened to them, and will protect themselves from it at all costs. There is a season when it is ok to shop, not adopt. - April
photo courtesy of: @life-of-lincoln
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